KOCHI: At a time when government entities are on a spree to dilute stake to private players, in a strange unprecedented development the Kerala Startup Mission takes over the physical space of the iconic Startup Village at Hi-Tech Park in Kalamassery. The transition will take place on January 1, 2016. The reason? Fulfillment of commitment to the Department of Science and Technology (DIST) and constraints of fund for scaling up. The 40 physical startups incubated with the Startup Village will sign a new agreement with Kerala Startup Mission to continue in Startup Village, which is the country’s first Public Private Partnership technology business incubator.
The role of MobME Wireless Solutions, the industry partner of Startup Village since its inception in April 2012, will be limited to that of a provider of the Digital Incubator Platform on www.sv.co.
Similarly, the Kerala Startup Mission will also take over the 1,600 sq ft space of Startup Village in Kozhikode and scale it up to a 5,000 sq ft incubation facility. It is learnt that the cost of operation of Startup Village comes to around Rs15-20 lakh per month.